I think the Naruto series manga is done in the traditional styles, right Daisuke?
-Ethan
I have to say I have a special place in my heart for, “The Breakfast Club.” It was playing in the background the first time I ever… Ok. I guess that’s a story better saved for, “Uncle Sean’s Naughty Story Hour.”
One thing I do find, though, as I’ve gotten older, and become a parent, is that I’ve actually started to identify with the teacher in the movie. Not to suggest that he wasn’t a dick, because he was, but in the fact that I just wanna look at kids and say, “What the f… are you thinking!!!” The answer is, of course, “Nothing.” But, to them, that nothing is VERY profound. It’s amazing how easy it is to forget, that we weren’t much better back in our teens either. That’s why the stupid stuff I did as a kid discussions are always so enlightening. We all gotta remember that we were morons who thought we knew everything back then too.
Thanks for the kind words, all. Chuck disappears into the background in our segment, but if it’s good, it’s cuz he worked some behind-the-scenes magic. The Alpacas are good company and a great audience!
-dxf
(aka Ferris)
ps. When I described myself and a friend as “Gary and Chet” from Weird Science, I meant “Gary and Wyatt.”
dxf:
I was just blown away by the total awesomeness of your segment. I literally just spent 25 minutes in the car in my work parking lot after my commute this morning listening to it to finish it. Your insights really helped organize and shape my thoughts on his works and our current high school arc in general. The perspectives you give across the age ranges are truly John Hughes-esque in their portrayals. Thank you for taking your time to record the segment. Thank you for sharing your awesome John Hughes’ knowledge with the rest of us GWC Alpacas. And thank you for your wonderful insights.
~Shooter Out 
Awesome podcast, now all I have to do is watch me some John Hughes movies…
Speaking of The Right Stuff, when are we going to do the re-watch on that (and Apollo 13)?
Ah…the Right Stuff. One of the movies that definied my career choice. Alas, I was about 30 years too late. Gotta love the Ivan-Gus quote, though, in tThe Right Stuff. Thanks for the little trip down memory lane Chuck, Sean, and Audra!
I think that would be a perfect time to do Armaggeddon, Deep Impact, Mission to Mars, Red Planet, Total Recall, Outland, Space Cowboys, SpaceCamp, and maybe a little Lifeforce in there too. Well, maybe not all those, but a within-the-solar system scifi space arc would be kind of cool.
~Shooter Out
Thank you, sir! Glad you dug it. As an NPR listener, I know they call those driveway moments, and they’re the ultimate compliment. Again, big ups to Chuck & the Crew for invisible contributions and making it happen. This week, I am the weak link in the GWC chain of awesomeness.
Oh, about the upcoming Mad Max movie… You could not remember the name of the actor playing Max, I believe it is TOONCES THE CAT!
This pretty much sums up my high school experience…
and it doesn’t get any easier kid! (heavy sigh)
Yay!
When Toonces gets mad, watch out!
Ohhh, good suggestion! You could add Moon and Sunshine to that, too.
Ferris, you earned the compliment. That was great.
One of the few Hughes movies you didn’t mention that I think deserves a nod is Curly Sue. It’s actually not his best, but it sticks with me as a good encapsulation of his overall sense of humor.
The high school stories were awesome. I loved the discussion of everyone’s “other” favorite character, too.
The faux mohawk, we’ve had that for a while in the UK, my nephew regularly has it. I believe the trend came in when a certain beckham styled it.
I’m going to go for a combination mohawk soonish. Whenever I find time to go to the barbers
something like that, faux-ish hawk up front, low profile down the back
I think the trend started when every seven year old washed their own hair.
^ Good call
I bow to your hard fact :)…
I did have a Mr T mohawk a cpl of months ago, but the only real picture, you can’t see it, but I’ll post it anyway.
A beautiful and heartwarming tribute to Hughes by Ferris. Sir, I salute you.
All, please be aware the “director’s cut” of Ferris’s John Hughes tribute article is now on the GWC blog
Can we have more Tina Turner songs on the show that was great.
Dave,
I’ve put She’s Having a Baby in the Netflix queue. I want to see it again before I feel comfortable comparing/contrasting with Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. I’m also starting to think Uncle Buck has some relationship with Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
On the Breakfast tip. You mentioned that Hughes somehow makes the teenager more important or somehow gives them credibility that they somehow weren’t given before. I have to disagree somewhat. The “being a teenager” themes in Hughes’s flicks are more about individual character studies in my opinion. In a larger sense, these characters all deal with angst, and yes, Hughes makes that a central trait, but I don’t think he implied any overarching message in the adult vs. youth realm. After all, let’s face it; in looking back, we were all idiots. After all, how many people have said, “If I knew back then what I know now . . .” Also, how many people want to relive some of those gut wrenching high school moments when we didn’t fit in? To me, Hughes delivered a moment in time that all kids experience, that moment when we become individuals, and stop identifying with cliques.
In this one day of detention, they are all placed under a microscope and given a 10-page essay topic of “Who you think you are.” Kids don’t even know who they are in high school. They are only known by who they associate with. At the end, do we know who they are? Do they know? Not yet. Brian Johnson (the nerd) states, when contemplating, “I am the walrus.”
Part of who they are is what brought them together, which makes the “Do you wanna know what I did to get here?” scene the most powerful of the movie.
In the end, Brian is assigned the task by the group because, he’s told, they would all say the same thing anyway. So who are they? In answering, Hughes shows his mastery of word choice. Hughes uses dialogue just as well as Hemingway. For example, Brian says, “In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions, we are . . .” To paraphrase, they are whatever someone wants to see in them. But no human being is simple and defined - let alone these kids. For his answer to make sense to Vernon, Brian has to use definitions and simple terms. Collectively, this breakfast club illustrates the pressure kids feel to fit someone else’s idea of who they should be. But ultimately, we find out who we are only through experiences and hardships. It’s later in life that we figure that out. So don’t sweat it.
At the end, I think there is a tendency for people to want to believe that they will see each other on Monday and be friends. That’s naïve. If they do, it’s really not the point. They will still associate with whomever they want and so will the members of their cliques. Humans tend to form herds, I guess, which makes self-discovery, a key development if adulthood, that much more difficult.